Mystery as abandoned dogs in Chernobyl turn blue, baffling caretakers

Wild images show several dogs near the Chernobyl nuclear powerplant turning blue, baffling workers taking care of them.

The alarming-looking dogs — descendants of pets abandoned after the nuclear disaster there nearly 40 years ago — have been found wandering around the Chernobyl exclusion zone this month, according to Dogs of Chernobyl, an affiliate of the non-profit Clean Futures Fund that cares for the dogs there.

“We are on the ground now catching dogs for sterilization, and we came across three dogs that were completely blue,” the organization said in an Instagram post with more than 330,000 views.

“We are not sure exactly what is going on.”

Locals said that the dogs’ fur was normal just a week earlier.

“We do not know the reason, and we are attempting to catch them so we can find out what is happening,” the spokesperson added.

“Most likely, they’re getting into some sort of chemical.”

While they are blue, they appear to be “very active and healthy,” the organization said.

Each year, Dogs of Chernobyl, which started in 2017, provides medical care and food for the estimated 700 dogs residing in the 18-square-mile exclusion zone.

The dogs are the descendants of the pets who were abandoned when people were forced to evacuate after a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in 1986, in one of the worst nuclear disasters in history.